The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of April 18, 2024

Writing Box with Spitting Courtesan

Writing Box with Spitting Courtesan

early to mid-1800s
(1615-1868)
Lacquered wood with maki-e (image made of sprinkled gold dust)
Box: 21.6 x 19.8 x 3.2 cm (8 1/2 x 7 13/16 x 1 1/4 in.); Closed: 21 cm (8 1/4 in.); Cover: 20.7 x 20.7 cm (8 1/8 x 8 1/8 in.)
Worcester R. Warner Collection 1963.260.a
Location: not on view

Description

The design on this writing box shows a courtesan who has just completed an impressive feat of spitting the term shinobukoi (忍恋), which could be translated as “hidden love” or “unrequited love,” on an earthen wall. The phrase appeared in classical Japanese poetry anthologies produced by nobles writing in ink on the finest decorated papers. Here, the confining walls of the brothel district become a space for public announcement in graffiti, with the medium being perhaps tea.
  • Tomkinson
    ?-1963
    (N. V. Hammer, New York, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)
    1963-
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH, 1963-present
  • Lee, Sherman E. “Year in Review for 1963.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 50, no. 10 (1963): 263–294. Mentioned: no. 64, p. 292; Reproduced: no. 64, p. 284 www.jstor.org
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966. Reproduced: p. 285 archive.org
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969. Reproduced: p. 285 archive.org
    Sŏn, Sŭng-hye. The Lure of Painted Poetry: Japanese and Korean Art. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2011. cat. no. 3
    Franklin, David and C. Griffith Mann. Treasures from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 2012. Mentioned and Reproduced: pp. 54–55
    Franklin, David. The Cleveland Museum of Art. London: Scala Arts & Heritage Publishers Ltd., 2012. Reproduced: p. 54 - 55
  • Japan's Floating World (Japanese art rotation) 235. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (April 8-October 9, 2022).
    The Lure of Painted Poetry: Cross-cultural Text and Image in Korean and Japanese Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (April 15-August 21, 2011).
  • {{cite web|title=Writing Box with Spitting Courtesan|url=false|author=|year=early to mid-1800s|access-date=18 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1963.260.a